My bathroom tile job in Phoenix went sideways when the mortar set way too fast

I was laying subway tile in my guest bathroom last summer, and the bag of mortar I bought said it had a 45 minute pot life. Maybe it was the 110 degree heat in my garage, but it started getting chunky after like 15 minutes. I panicked and tried to add more water, which just made it worse and ruined a whole batch. I ended up having to scrape off a few tiles I'd already set and mix a new, much smaller batch inside with the AC on. Has anyone else had mortar or grout cure way faster than the bag says, and how do you deal with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

foster.tessa28d ago

Everything these days seems to work faster in the heat... even the stuff that shouldn't.

ivan_murphy8028d ago

Tell me about it. My old truck's engine starts knocking if it sits in the sun too long. Modern tech just wasn't built for this.

the_drew27d ago

You think the heat is the main problem? I've had mortar set up fast even on cool days because some brands just have a bad mix. The time on the bag is a best case guess, not a promise. You did the right thing mixing small batches inside, that's the real fix. Adding water never works, it just wrecks the bond. A lot of this comes down to picking a better product and not trusting the label so much.